Heavy Countdown crowds and fireworks kicked off 2019 at dozens of Countdown venues around Thailand, and a bright pink pig at Bangkok's Siam Centre was a reminder of this year's animal.
Countdown venues in downtown Bangkok were filled by sunset, as huge crowds turned out across the capital to welcome the Year of the Pig.
A tunnel of light attracts revellers in Satun. The event was organised by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
An electric "Happy New Year 2019" sign hung over Ratchaprasong intersection, a major countdown venue (above right).
As promised, the biggest Thai fireworks display was at the new Iconsiam luxury mall.
Dozens of boats gathered on the Chao Phraya River to watch the impressive show.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Monday posted New Year's good wishes by words and video on his assorted @prayutofficial social media accounts. This is his Twitter message and video.
Unofficial translation:
Today is the last day of the year. Tomorrow we will begin 2562 B.E. I wish happiness and fulfilment to all citizens in the new year to come.
There have been a record number of breathalyser tests and more arrests for drink driving than ever - but the highway carnage continues unabated.
Statistics after Day 4 of the "7 Dangerous Days" on the roads showed drivers were on track to match last year's toll of more than 400 dead.
A total of 2,729 vehicles, more than half of them motorcycles, were impounded over drink-driving offences nationwide between Thursday and Sunday, the first four days of the New Year holidays.
Of the total, 1,945 were motorcycles, according to National Council for Peace and Order deputy spokeswoman Sirichan Ngathong.
The Department of Probation also announced that during the same period, 3,049 drink-driving offenders were ordered by the court to enter a probation period nationwide.
As of Sunday, the court had also ordered 33 traffic violators to wear electronic monitoring devices as part of a curfew and to perform community service for 24 hours. They also had their licences suspended for six months. Most of the 33 offenders were in Bangkok.
Australia was the first major venue to celebrate the turning of the calendar, with a major fireworks display over Sydney Harbour and the Opera House. The day began in Samao, Tonga and Christmas Island, at the edge of the international date line.
In the year's first strange trivia notes, Czech qualifier Marie Bouzkova stunned former US Open champion Samantha Stosur to reach the Brisbane International tennis tournament's second round on Monday. The match started in 2018, spanned midnight and finished in the early hours of 2019.
But Thailand outdid that outlandishness.
While celebrations were on at Countdown sites, hundreds travelled to Takhian Temple in Bang Kruai district of Nonthaburi to lie inside coffins for traditional funeral rituals. Participants believe the ceremony - supposedly symbolising death and rebirth - helps rid them of bad luck and allows them to be born again for a fresh start in the new year.
Participants held flowers and incense in their hands as monks covered them with pink sheets and chanted prayers for the dead.
"It wasn't scary or anything. It is our belief that it will help us get rid of bad luck and bring good fortune to our life," said Busaba Yookong, who came to the temple with her family.
People marked the New Year by lying in coffins at Wat Takhian, a crowded temple in Nonthaburi famous for its floating market, as traditional belief holds that the act will rid them of bad luck. (File photo by Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)
Nang Takhian is named for a mythical female spirit who gives sex to young men and then feed on their spirits in order to survive. The ghost and the temple's legend have spawned at least two movies and several soap operas.
Sydney and Hong Kong put on stunning fireworks displays in a spectacular welcome to the New Year - both over their harbours.
Australia's largest city organised its biggest-ever fireworks display, using a record amount of pyrotechnics as well as new effects. Colours lit up the city's skyline for 12 minutes and dazzled the more than 1.5 million spectators who packed the harbour front and parks.
An earlier thunderstorm did not dampen the spirits of revellers who camped out at vantage points, some since the morning.
To mark the international year of indigenous languages in 2019, the harbour also hosted a ceremony celebrating Aboriginal heritage that included animations projected onto the bridge's pylons.
In Hong Kong, hundreds of thousands of revellers packed the streets on both sides of the city's Victoria Harbour for a spectacular 10-minute firework show.
Some $1.8 million worth of pyrotechnics bathed the city's skyscrapers in a dizzying array of colours accompanied by a score that included Auld Lang Syne sung in Cantonese, Mandarin and English.
Revellers were packed shoulder to shoulder on the densely crowded streets, many festooned with LED lights and sparkly glasses reading "2019".
In the Indonesian capital Jakarta, more than 500 couples tied the knot in a free mass wedding organised by the government, with fireworks shows cancelled out of respect for tsunami victims.
New Year's Eve celebrations were also called off in nearby Banten province, where the disaster struck on 22 December killing more than 400 people.
In Japan, locals flocked to temples to ring in 2019, as US boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather came out of retirement to beat Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in a multi-million-dollar "exhibition" bout outside Tokyo.
The party atmosphere is set to sweep across major cities in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas as the clock ticks past midnight.
New York's midnight celebrations will occur at noon on Tuesday, Thailand time.
A strong police presence has become a key element of the festivities, to protect crowds that could be targeted in terror and vehicle attacks.