The Grand Palace and getting "taken for a ride"

Our first day in Bangkok was quite eventful. We slept in a bit because we arrived around 1 am the previous night. Then we made our way to visit the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha. I read in multiple guide books that the palace was open until 3:30 so we made sure to arrive with a few hours to walk around. When we got there however, we were told that the palace was closed until 3 and that we should come back between 3 and 6 pm to visit. It did appear that the gates at the entrance were closed but the sign outside agreed with what I had read which was that the Palace was open until 3:30. We were slightly confused but the very helpful guys standing outside the entrance said there was a special event going on. They had the perfect suggestion for us to pass the time. For 20 Bhat (which is less than $1) we could ride on a tuk tuk to visit another temple a mile or two away. The driver would wait for us and then drive us back to the palace. We figured why not because we had some time until the Palace opened and we were interested in riding on a tuk tuk.
As promised, our driver took us to a small temple and let us out to look around. Almost as soon as we walked in the entrance, a very friendly man came up to us and started chatting. He offered to give us a tour of the temple area and explain more about how he prays when he visits the temple each day. We followed him into the temple, sat down, and had a very nice chat about the paintings on the temple wall, living in Bangkok, and his life as an English teacher at a nearby school. During the conversation he also casually mentioned that if we liked to shop there was a great place to get a custom suit made called Thai Center. And then he brought up his favorite jewelry shop. We didn't really think anything of it until....
We headed back to the tuk tuk expecting to be driven back to the Grand Palace. We then found out that there were two stops we'd be making first. And wouldn't you know it.. the first stop was Thai Center! What an astounding coincidence! We politely declined having a suit made and were basically ordered out of the store. Daniel said to me "I bet we are heading to a jewelry store now" as we climbed back in the tuk tuk. Sure enough, that was our next stop. :-)
So in hindsight it all seems a bit obvious. We aren't sure if the palace was really closed when we arrived but it definitely looked like it was. We didn't mind being "taken for a ride" at all though. We wanted to ride in a tuk tuk and had a great time riding around the city. Plus we saw a really nice temple. All for less than one American dollar!
When we arrived back at the Grand Palace, the gates were open and we finally went inside to explore. The Palace did stay open later than usual so we had plenty of time to explore. Behold all the gold!






After exploring the Palace grounds for a few hours and sampling our first "young coconut" drink of the week, we made our way back towards our hotel on a boat traveling down the Chao Phraya River (Thailand's famed waterway).


From the ferry boat, we connected to the local subway system. On our way back we spotted this and couldn't resist.
Why did we want to stop here? Well to see Harry Potter in 3D of course!
Two interesting things about seeing the movie in Thailand versus at home: (1) Before the movie started we had to stand up for a tribute to the King (2) the theater had couches with blankets in the top row of the theater. We managed to secure ourselves one of them.