BANGKOK: Water pistols, hose pipes and smiles were in abundance on the streets of Bangkok on Thursday, as the city celebrated the Thai new year festival Songkran after a three-year pandemic-related hiatus.

While the three-day celebrations include paying respect to elders and sprinkling water over Buddha statues, the festival is also a chance for younger Thais and foreigners to indulge in a little booze-fuelled revelry.

The ever-chaotic megalopolis saw a huge water fight take place at close to 200 official sites, with smaller bouts of liquid-based clashes breaking out in neighbourhoods across the city, as residents welcomed a return to normality after years of tough Covid measures.

Thai reveller Phoranee Sukjee, 29, said she was hopeful the revival of thefestival would boost the country`s economy, which was battered by the pandemic. `Though some places in Bangkok are still quiet, things would definitely get better,` she said.

City governor Chadchart Sittipunt urged citizens to wear colourful shirts and respect traditional Songkran activities in an alcohol-free family-friendly environment.

By midday, however, the floral shirts on backpacker hotspot Khao San Road were already drenched, the beers cracked, and the music blasting as Thais and foreigners soaked each other with brightly coloured water guns.

`It`s already blown out our expectations, it`s so much fun,` said drenched Californian Parker Core, 24, who booked a last-minute trip from Malaysia. `We have nothing like it in America,` he said.-AFP