Bangkok: City of Angels?

It is Monday in Thailand- a day all you Americans have yet to experience. We already have had quite the adventure since we arrived here less than 24 hours ago. Chatree, the owner of Diva back in Newport, picked us up at the airport last night and helped us to get aquainted with Bangkok. Our hotel, The Happy House (http://www.thehappyhouseguesthouse.com/), is located near Khao San Road- a hippie haven of open-bar lined streets bustling with dreadlocked people, bright lights, food carts, shops... and even a baby elephant. Our room has a balcony over looking an alley complete with wide open restaurant bars playing Bob Marley covers until the wee hours, tempting Thai massage parlors, & fresh fruit stands. After a few hours of sleep we head out this morning for our first day of touristing. We attempted to make our first stop the Grand Palace only to find out that it was closed due to ceremonies in honor of the King's recently deceased sister. "Friendly" Thais welcomed us left & right- asking questions, offering advice, and even handing us corn kernels in order to feed the pigeons that swarmed in front of the palace.. "for good luck." Turns out the smiles in this land are often hiding hidden agendas. Bottom line- today. we. got. hustled. The pigeon people, once we'd emptied our treat for the anxious birds, promptly demanded our bahts. We walked away from the scam laughing at what we'd just let happen. Little did we know theirs were not the last seemingly genuine smiles to trick us and we were about to hop on the tourist trap express for the remainder of the day. Our first tuk-tuk driver delivered us to his friends on the river where a small river boat driver took the 3 of us on an amazing trip down the long & narrow canals. Palm trees, temples dotted with buddhist monks in their bright orange robes, Thai teens jumping off their delapidated back steps into the murky fish filled water, women hanging laundry, hammocks, & absurdly massive lizards... every person we passed waved, smiled, and put up peace signs posing for pictures as though our boat was not one of a billion to pass by them that day. Perhaps they knew we were aboard the express and their genuine smiles were a thanks for the baht we'd be donating. Suspiciously, the same Thai who sold us our boat tickets offered to take us to a great place to eat on his tuk-tuk. He took us entirely across massive Bangkok- & pretty much forced us to go to a gem store and silk tailor- both establishments swarming in ignorant tourists on the same ride as us. Sorry, we don't wear silk suits & we're all out of proms to attend- you can stop bowing to us. Our driver then abandoned us at the final destination restaurant (which luckily served a flaming pot of green curry that helped to revive our spirits). By the time we hailed our final tuk-tuk & strategically wove in & out of highway traffic, clutching the railings & inhaling smog, back to the Happy House we swore never to get on a damned tuk-tuk again & decided to get our heads back on our shoulders now that we know every Thai in Bangkok is in cahoots. Only minutes pass before one of us breaks into laughter over today's adventure. We're now plotting out the rest of our trip day by day- thoroughly culture shocked, & excited to head to paradise on the 16th.