I KNOW A PLACE : ICE HOUSE
- Ayush Madan
- 1月23日
- 讀畢需時 5 分鐘
By Ayush Madan
Hidden in a quiet soi off of Pridi 14 is Ice House: an ice bath and sauna center that has become a hotspot for the neighborhood’s wellness community. Since April 2024, people have been visiting the house to practice hot and cold therapy — an age old tradition proven to increase dopamine, speed up recovery, and reduce stress. Additionally, Ice House also functions as a co-working space, cafe, and restaurant — providing you all the amenities you need to settle down for the day.
THE AMBIANCE
As we walked through the gate, we heard the sounds of their ice machine, churning “fresh, organic ice” foreshadowing the test of endurance that awaited us. At the front door, you remove your shoes, as is customary in any home in this region. Inside, the essence of the house has been preserved with great care, with the wood floor tiles still echoing a distinctly 90s Thai look. To your left, is the co-working space, featuring large windows, workstations, and an adorable munchkin cat. To your right is the food and beverage bar, where you can buy açai bowls, coffee, matcha, fresh coconut juice, or even kombucha.
If you walk straight through, it will lead you to my favorite place to lounge which is the outdoor terrace. Here, floor mats and cushions are laid out along with several woven rattan tables and warm lamps. Along the red brick wall are signs outlining the benefits of saunas and ice baths. This is an area for folks to have a sip of lemon-infused water, enjoy a snack, or carry out their remote work in a lush environment while waiting for their slot.
As you turn left from the terrace, you will find the garden: home to the icy teak tubs and the Finnish sauna. There are four tubs to choose from, but only two of them can accommodate two people. My friend Rose and I chose to do our cold plunges in the same tubs, as I think having a friend do it with you can boost morale and help both of you stay in longer.
To the left of the garden is an area with a water dispenser and a few pool chairs for you to thaw out in the sun after an icy dip.
The sauna is large and can easily accommodate 10 people. It is a true Finnish sauna and I promise you will feel the heat sitting on the third step. While in the sauna, you can look out and see the beautiful garden, with people going in and out of the ice. I loved just being in there, in the steam, and having conversations with my newfound friends — Babe and Wyman.
A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE
Despite servicing up to 120 customers on Saturdays, the team at Ice House does an excellent job of keeping the place feeling exclusive, with a strict cap of 10 people per hour. The co-founder Beams mentions this to me in our conversation before my ice bath session.
“It started as a really small gathering,” Beams said. “We were just a group of friends trying ice baths at someone’s garden. Three became five, then ten.”
When I first heard of the project in 2023, it was a few tubs of ice on the roof of a Haianese Chicken Rice shop in Thong Lo. This was when I first interviewed the founder, John for an article. Over time, as I frequented the place, the lines for the ice bath grew, and so did the the facilities.
“When I decided to turn it into a real space, we didn’t have investors or big budgets. We literally carried the sauna up a staircase piece by piece.”
Today, as I look around, it’s amazing to see how far they have come. A lot of it has to do with their core values as a business. Key among them being community.
“My goal is to build this whole street as a wellness community,” Beams explains. “My friends own cafés nearby, some do yoga or coffee roasting. I want people to walk between all of it.”
Ice House hosts various weekly events to connect with its community, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.
These range from Sub Zero Club (-1 degrees celsius) on Mondays at 11am; Sunrise Ice Bath Club at 7am and Kava Circle at 3pm on Wednesdays; Sound Healing at 7pm on Thursdays; Sunset Sauna at 6pm on Friday nights; The Saturday Social (all day with fresh fruit served).
THE CHILLS
Each of their four teak tubs is constantly filled with fresh ice from the machine, with thermometers ensuring the temperature is cold enough to meet their standards. During my session, my tub measurement ranged from 0.5 to 1.5 degrees celsius. What this means for visitors is a pure unadulterated chill.
Doing an ice bath never gets easier on your body. I always come out shivering. My extremities like my feet can go numb. I struggle to keep my hands in for more than a few seconds. It feels almost like a searing cold, like pins and needles all over your body. Some people like my friend Rose saw parts of her body turn red from the temperature shock. After a while this will subside and is perfectly normal.
For me personally, I could stay up to two or two and a half minutes each time. This is sufficient for the maximum health benefits, but if you are like my friend Jack from Siberia, feel free to stay up to five minutes to test your limits.
I recommend doing the ice bath first, then into the sauna, then a shower, then in the ice bath, and repeat. Rose and I did three cycles each, lasting longer in the ice each time. This is not too different from what the Vikings did centuries ago— going into the sauna then rolling in the snow. This sort of temperature fluctuation increases your mental capacity to tolerate discomfort, which will extend into the rest of your life. Constant ice baths improve resilience and grit —qualities integral for any kind of success.
By the end of the day, we had taken about 4 showers, but felt completely mentally and physically refreshed and energized. This energy carried into the rest of my day. That night I slept as soundly as a rock.
THE FUTURE
With Beams herself growing up in the same soi where the Ice House is now, any doubts I had about this neighborhood being gentrified were dispelled. The place is going right back to the people who were here first. But of course, the team doesn’t plan on stopping here.
“We’re already working on a second rooftop location,” Beams told me. “And maybe in the future, other countries too. Wellness is growing fast — Thailand is becoming like the new Bali.”
As a supporter of Ice House for over 2 years now, seeing them grow at this rate brings me great joy. I will be returning to the house very soon, not just to document their beautiful community, but for my own mental and physical resilience.
Ice House Bangkok