People spray water in the street ahead of “Songkran”, the annual Thai New Year water-throwing festival, in Kowloon City, Hong Kong, China, 09 April 2017. The pouring of water is a key element in the festival as it represents purification and the washing away of one's sins and bad luck for the year. The event also includes a “Miss Songkran” pageant where contestants are clothed in traditional Thai dress, and a winner is crowned. This year's “Songkran” will begin in Thailand on 13 April 2017. (Photo by Alex Hofford/EPA)

A Thai Marine instructor drinks a cobra's raw blood after killing it as he gives instruction to US Marines and South Korean Marines during jungle survival training as part of the multinational joint military exercise Cobra Gold 2018 at a Force Reconnaissance Battalion camp in the Royal Thai Naval Base, Sattahip district, Chonburi province, Thailand, 19 February 2018. (Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA/EFE)

Students take photos with a giant King Kong sculptures made out straw in the northern Thai province of Chiang Mai on April 3, 2019. (Photo by Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP Photo)

A girl with white powder on her face celebrates the Songkran holiday which marks the Thai New Year in Bangkok, Thailand, on April 14, 2024. (Photo by Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters)

People play with water as they celebrate the Songkran holiday which marks the Thai New Year in Bangkok, Thailand, on April 13, 2024. (Photo by Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters)

Revellers play with water as they celebrate the Songkran holiday, which marks the Thai New Year, in Bangkok, Thailand, on April 13, 2025. (Photo by Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters)

A member of a Thai buffalo racing team tries to control it before a sprint race during an annual buffalo racing festival in Chonburi, Thailand, Monday, October 6, 2025. (Photo by Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)

Thai vendors stand next to edible insects for sale at Talad Thai market in Pathum Thani province on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, 15 July 2013. Insects have long been on the menu in Thailand, but academics and the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) officials are hoping they will become a more common global source of protein and nutrients to meet the need for growing world food requirements in the future. (Photo by Narong Sangnak/EPA)