In August 2015, Neng and I were travelling by motorbike on a main road through his home province, accompanied by several other Hmong from his village. The day before we had noted the presence of police on the road and as such, we were all wearing crash helmets. The lack of a helmet is a favourite reason for the police to stop motorcyclists. Nevertheless, as we approached the police roadblock, we were all pulled over. After a thorough inspection of the bikes, the police levied a fine of 20,000 kip against each motorbike for – apparently – not having a required registration document. Neng's older brother managed to negotiate a small discount on the requested amount and paid 50,000 kip in total. Later, when we reached his house, I asked Neng why he thought we had been stopped while the other drivers were waved through. He responded without hesitation that we were stopped because he and the others are Hmong and clearly the police wanted money to drink that day. He told me: ‘You cannot say this to the police but you know inside they stopped you because you are Hmong’.

By saying this, Neng confirmed that he felt he was targeted because of his ethnicity, or his actual and assumed difference from the majority lowland Lao.