“Make me beautiful, I’m going clubbing”, I walked into a beauty salon on Soksan Rd at around 10 PM and was offered a combo of full-face makeup and manicure for ten US dollars. I complied. Sitting down, I closed my eyes as one girl applied concealer to my face while another filed away the rough edges of my nails. A few other customers were staring at themselves in the mirror. One told me about her boyfriend from Paris, others giggled and chatted in Khmer, still observing their own transformations.
 
Walking out as a different-looking person, I headed to Pub Street, a new tourist strip that turned into a loud, hungry organism at night. Flashing lights, thumping music and cheap booze dissolved conversations into noise. Against a backdrop of artificial color, women presented themselves carefully — dolled up, smiling, willing to entertain, promising visitors a night that might feel a little less lonely or mundane. But memories and words are often traitorous, images no less disloyal. 

Made during the Angkor Photo Workshop, this photo essay combines documentary observation and personal encounter, tracing the performances, desires, and gendered emotional labor within Siem Reap’s nightlife and service economy.