The room is a concrete box with an aluminium door — typical for Thailand — but the tiled bench is raised a step and the ceiling is low, so the heat and the scent, lemongrass above all, reach you directly. The temperature climbs steadily towards three in the afternoon.

Large quantities of ice go into the cold bath, a service for the many Muay Thai fighters who live nearby; the ice reaches the bottom, so the bath is more like a bench of ice. The steam generator is an unusual wood-fired type, with whole logs pushed straight into the fire.

Herbs are decocted in a huge kettle. Beneath the device sits a large wok-like pan fed continuously by a thin water line, with a twisted towel wrapped round as a lid to slow evaporation and keep steam coming for hours. Bags packed with fresh herbs are dropped into the boiling water and changed at least once an hour; the facility says it goes through more than 10 kg of herbs a day. A lemongrass delivery arrived during the visit — a strongly scented variety grown to order, with thicker stems and deeper colour than elsewhere. Visited by JRHA on 3 November 2024.

This is an English summary. The full article was written in Japanese. Original article in Japanese →