Thailand has kicked off its annual Songkran festival (the traditional Thai New Year, observed each April), with crowds packing Bangkok's Khao San Road to drench one another with water guns and buckets during the peak of the dry-season heat. Beyond the street celebrations, the holiday carries deep cultural and religious significance: families reunite across provinces in one of Southeast Asia's largest annual human migrations, and quieter ceremonies — such as pouring water over elders' hands as a gesture of respect and a wish for good health — sit alongside the public revelry. The festival is shared in various forms by neighbouring countries including Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, and provides a major seasonal boost to Thailand's tourism and domestic travel industries.