Running an ice rink in the tropics is not a venture for the faint-hearted. Imagine the expertise and technology required for the winter sport arena in the equatorial climate, not to mention the financial costs it would incur seeking customers who can stand on two thin blades -- let alone run around -- on a slippery, icy surface.
For Chidchanok Janevarakul, 46, it was a venture borne out of an apathy for academic subjects. It was a destiny that began when she was 16 and decided to study at a business school in Perth, Australia, she says.
"I was no good at studying. I hated maths and science, so the dream of becoming a doctor or an engineer never entered my mind. My father then encouraged me to be good at sports, and the spirit of sports has been implanted in my mind since then," says Ms Chidchanok.
That spirit, plus plenty of hard work, determination and good connections, was to lead her to become the queen of the ice rinks, the first of which was The Rink at CentralWorld six years ago.
After seven years in Australia, Ms Chidchanok got a job as secretary to the general manager of a five-star hotel in Bangkok. She stuck with it for just a year as the work was "too routine" for her personality, before finding a job at an events organising company.
She spent two years as an events organiser, long enough to expand her creativity through working on interesting and exciting functions that had a powerful impact.
The job also opened up a network of excellent connections, people who would prove to be crucial to realising her dream of building an ice-skating hall.
"One day, I met an old school friend who worked for CentralWorld shopping mall and she mentioned having an ice-skating hall to try and attract more people to the store," she says.
There was, however, a major stumbling block: no local company could build an ice-skating hall. It also needed at least 20 million baht for the structure and the foundation of the hall, excluding the ice-making and cooling systems, says Ms Chidchanok.
Then she remembered a contact she met when she was an events organiser. He worked for an engineering company in Germany and he told her he could build a mobile ice-skating facility for only 5 million baht.
"He said we didn't have to build such an expensive structure for a strong foundation. All we needed were an ice-making machine, movable plates to create an ice pan on and a tent to cover the ice plate. That was all," she says.
"I said 'yes' straight away. I thought that running an ice rink in a hot country like Thailand would be a very cool business," she adds.
Ice skating and ice arenas are not new to Thailand. There were a few ice rinks in Bangkok in the past couple of decades, but all of them have gone of business, she says.
Ms Chidchanok recalls ice-skating halls in the 1990s located at entertainment complexes that only attracted teenagers, who soon outgrew such leisure activities to focus on work and their lives.
"That's why those businesses had a short shelf-life," she says.
Ms Chidchanok has sought to make ice skating appealing to all ages.
"I just wanted to promote it as an alternative sport, a rare sport for Thais. And when I opened The Rink six years ago, I got a very warm welcome from Thai skaters. That raised hopes for me to continue with the plan to promote ice skating," she says.
She found that a large number of Thai people are interested in ice skating. There are even professional skaters who take part in regional contests. She then introduced other activities, including ice hockey and figure skating.
From the first ice-skating hall in CentralWorld, she now has nine ice rinks in Bangkok and several major provinces such as Nakhon Ratchasima.
After the rink business took root, Ms Chidchanok diversified into supplying ice skates for promotional events.
Such is her reputation she was selected to build the ice-skating arena for the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, to be held in Kuala Lumpur.
"The business of selling mobile skating halls and supplying ice-skating facilities and equipment has gone quite well and helps support the nine ice-skating branches, which have yet to break even," she says.
She declined to give exact details on when the local business would recoup the amount being invested, saying only she has poured some 400 million baht into the nine ice-skating halls.
However, Ms Chidchanok is philosophical about it. "No matter when it will start to make a profit, I think I have already reaped a big dividend -- the smiling faces of Thai skaters," she says.
She herself still does sports almost everyday, "thanks to my late father".
Asked if she skates, Ms Chidchanok replies: "I can't skate at all." Clearly, for her business does not mix well with leisure.
Chidchanok Janevarakul and the Rink Ice Skating Academy