Parad-ice
Parad-ice
December 28th, 2007A cool new club for skaters
howto Fall Fashionably
A trio of tips from Nuttaporn, ice skate coach at Sub-Zero.
- Everybody falls from time to time. But don’t fall on your knees or bum. It doesn’t look pretty and makes getting up harder.
- Better to fall on your side.
- To get up, kneel first. Then, put one foot on the ice and stand up.
Sitting on the fourth floor of the recently opened Esplanade mall, Sub-Zero Ice Skate Club (the Esplanade, Ratchada Rd., 02-354-2139/-40. Open daily 11am-midnight. www.esplanadethailand.com. MRT Thailand Cultural Center) brings a third rink to Bangkok. Don’t go and compare Sub-Zero with what you’d get in Japan or Singapore but this place is still more than you’re likely to need in a skating rink: a bar (with tables covered in ice), a restaurant, a small shop selling skating gear and, yes, karaoke rooms. That puts Imperial World’s skating rink to shame (not to mention the fact that Imperial World is on a distant planet with no MRT or BTS stations nearby, see box). However, keep in mind that Sub-Zero’s rink is smaller, and its convoluted shape might be disquieting for serious skaters. From the music to the ice bar, Sub-Zero is obviously geared towards a younger mall-going crowd interested in hanging out with friends in a modern club-like décor. Entrance fees are B200-300 per session, depending on the day and time. There’s an extra B30 for skate rental (and another B30 for socks in case you show up in flip-flops, like us).
Cheesy songs are played all day long and, from 6pm onwards, spotlights and smoke machines turn the place into a nightclub. You can imagine the kind of competitive “I can skate faster than you” mood this brings out in testosterone-pumped teens. If you’re a newbie, and positively freaking out, get yourself a coach for B700-2,000/hour. And make sure you ask for figure skates; the other kind, for hockey, are harder to master at first. (The skate has no ridged section for braking.) Don’t be shy, skating is a blast—and falling flat on your ass (with grace, see box) can be a great pickup technique.
Three More Rinks
IMPERIAL WORLD ICE SKATING
999 Sukhumvit Rd., Samrong Nua, Samutprakarn, 02-380-4230/-2. Open Mon-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 10am-7:30pm.
It may not be as hip or chic as Sub-Zero, but this is the one and only Olympic-sized rink in Thailand. So, if you get hooked on skating, this is the place to go. They even have some serious hockey games here with lots of foreign players. Prices are reasonable (B150/session, skates included). There are two rounds a day (10am- 2:45pm and 3:10-8pm, or to 3:10-7:30pm on Sun). If you just want to come in and watch the cute Canadian hockey players, entrance is B20.
OPEN ICE SKATE
Imperial Lad Prao, Ladprao, 02-934-9252/3. Open daily 11am-9pm.
Located on the fourth floor of Imperial Ladprao, this rink is a bit bigger than the one in Esplanade (much older, too) but also a lot cheaper. For all-day skating, shell out B100 on Mon-Fri and B120 on Sat and Sun. Non-skaters, pay B30 to get in.
SNOW TOWN
Dream World, 62 Moo 1, Rangsit-Ongkarak Rd. (Km 7),02-533-1152, 02-533-1447. www.dreamworld-th.com.
Don’t like skating but bored of Bangkok’s heat? If you don’t mind six-or seven-year-olds whizzing around, visit Snow Town for a real sub-zero experience. They have sleds that you can race on the artificial snow (more like hard, packed ice and sludge) and a little fairytale snow town. As you might expect, the price of admission to a snow town in Bangkok ain’t cheap: B120 entrance fee to the park plus an extra B150 for the white powder zone (coats and boots provided).
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