First day in Bangkok

This is about my first full day in bangkok which was a bit interesting so im going to include it here. It starts with me getting out of bed relatively early for breakfast. I head downstairs to the restaraunt for a buffet breakfast which features everything from cereal to pork soup with rice. They serve rice with every meal here which is a tad odd and a little bit tiresome. Anyway i sit donw near some farangs who (surprise, surprise!) are teachers on my programme. We get talking about where we are all from, we are all a bit relieved to meet some others off the programme. Pretty soon there is a about a dozen of us sitting together and chatting. At this point i meet Calan who has also lost his luggage. We arrange to head into the city centre to do a spot of shopping as we dont know when our bags are going to show up and i dont have too many clothes with me in my small bag. So we head off to ring our respective baggage people and i get the good news that my bag is on route and it should arrive at the hotel that evening. Calan's is still lost in the system. Buoyed by this i head into the city anyway for a look. So myself, Calan and Mark, his roommate, all get a taxi into Siam Square where we are told there is a shopping centre (or mall) and we can get a few bits and pieces. We land at this place only to find that this mall is designer stuff and pretty expensive, im talking irish or american prices. So we ditch that and go for a walk, and this is where the fun starts.
While walking the street we are approached by a man wearing a shirt bearing the logo "tourist police". A little bit dubious we stand there and listen to this guy tell us all the wonderful things to do and see in bangkok. He shows us on a map some places to pick up clothes and sunglasses and shows us a place to get a boat ride on the river. We thank him and hop in the proferred tuk tuk in the direction of a 'sunglasses factory'. We arrive at a shifty looking shop down some alley. We are then brought inside, up the stairs and into the back room where the guy lifts a section of the wall and guides us into another back room. Now inside here is an array of items from handbags to watches and sunglasses as well. We three look at each other having realised fro definite now that we were being scammed and that the stuff in this room was most likely stolen and our 'tourist policeman' was obviously getting a cut of this transaction. Anyway Calan and i pick out some sunglasses as we needed them anyway and get a steepish price. Not quite designer shop price but by no means market stall price. We leave the smiling staff and get into our tuk tuk which has waited for us and head on to the next stage, the boat ride. Having copped what was going on we back out from the boat ride and make our escape once we arrive assuring the guys we will return the next day. On our way back towards a main road (we were down another alley) we spot a little restaraunt and decide to get some lunch. This place turns out to be delicious and we even get iced towels to cool us down which is a welcome relief in the searing heat. Afterwards we catch a taxi and head back to the hotel for some R&R. On the way we drive through a big storm which would have made our little boat ride fairly uncomfortable had we taken it. We arrange to meet up later to get some food off the street vendors near our hotel and then get some beers all of which we do without problems. We bump into a few more teachers and begin to realise how big this program is before heading for an early night before our first day of orientation in the morning. So my first full day in Bangkok and i get scammed just like every other tourist.... Oh well at least i got some sunglasses out of it!

P.S. My Irish phone is not working over here so dont bother using my number. If you wish to get in touch my thai number is +66852171920.