A look at the nine-day celebration observed each year during the ninth month of the lunar Chinese calendar.

About 35,000 people are estimated to have attended this year's Bon Odori festival, an annual cultural event held in Malaysia for decades.

Thailand has long been known for its tough drug laws, but the government has steadily liberalised them in recent years and the plant came off the banned narcotics list, decriminalising cultivation and possession.

Passenger traffic over the Lunar New Year break plunged 58% from last year to 97.7 million trips, according to preliminary estimates from the transport ministry, including journeys made via railways, roads, waterways and air.