Cicadas sang a chorus as the forest opened out. I peered into the darkness and traced the distant contour of a monumental religious complex, a remarkable feat of human civilisation. Keyed up with my first visit, I crossed a floating bridge, a soon-to-be-dismantled construction, over a large moat in the midst of lush vegetation. Before dawn, I arrived at Angkor Wat. “Sour sdey [hello],” said Pheakdey, a local guide, in his native language when a group of journalists joined other early risers in catching daybreak. All stood in awe of the world’s largest temple. After two years of the pandemic, C…