April is the hottest month in Cambodia. Celebrating the new year with water makes perfect sense - people throw water, pour it over each other and splash it on friends as a way of washing away the old year and welcoming the new one with fun and laughter. It looks a lot like Thailand's Songkran festival, because both have the same ancient roots.
On the first day, families clean the house from top to bottom and prepare offerings of fruit, flowers and incense for the temple. Children dress in bright new clothes. Monks receive gifts of rice and other foods. On the second day, there is a tradition of washing statues of the Buddha with scented water.
Traditional games are a huge part of Khmer New Year. One of the most popular is 'Bos Angkunh' - a game where players throw seeds called angkunh at a target pile, trying to knock others' seeds off. Another is 'Klah Klok', a dice game played in the streets on big colourful mats.
Food is central to the celebrations: sticky rice cakes called 'num ansom' are prepared in every household, families share big meals together and sweets are given to children. At night there are concerts, traditional music and dancing in the streets.