Welcome to Bangkok. The Metropolitan is unfortunately not on the Skytrain line, but not too far from it and not too far from the river, both of which make it easy to get around. The Skytrain is swift and fast, and the river taxi can take you to the Old Part of the city. The river taxi is fun and unique in itself. You will be within close walking distance to the subway; the Skytrain is more fun, because you can see the city from an elevated view, and the subway intersects with the Skytrain at three points.
US$60 a day for food will allow you to eat like a king.
I disagree that you should never wai anyone. No, you won’t get it right, but being a foreigner, and a newbie one at that, no one will expect you to get it right, but people will be pleased that you are making the effort. One very important exception: Never – and I mean NEVER EVER – wai a bargirl. A lot of tourists make this mistake. The girls will not feel “honored.” They will laugh at you (not with you) and joke among themselves about what a stupid, friggin’ idiot you are to be waiing a bargirl. Seriously, far from feeling honored, they will look down on you for it, seriously down on you. Otherwise, feel free to wai everyone else, but don’t go overboard. I’ve seen tourists constantly waiing the same person every minute or so. Just wai once when you meet them and once when you leave, and maybe once for “thank you” if they’ve just done you a favor or given you something. Do not be surprised if monks do not return your wai; monks do not wai anyone, not even the king.
The Metropolitan is close to Convent Road, which is an interesting stroll and full of lots of little eateries. I know you’ll be all up for Thai food, but I have to say the Sunday all-you-can-eat brunch at Molly Malone’s Irish Pub is fantastic and good value. If you want to see what local expats look like while enjoying some really good Irish food, that’s where you can see 'em on a Sunday noontime. Convent Road is also on the way to Patpong if you feel so inclined to check that out (Madrid Bar not only arguably has the best pizza in Bangkok, but also at one time was owned by the real-life counterpart of Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. Sadly, he’s dead now.)
You’re also near Lumpini Park, which is a nice area to walk around in the daytime. Closed at night.
Muang Boran is indeed a good place to get a feel for the rest of Thailand if you can’t make it upcountry, but it’s hard to get to. You could take a bus, but I would not recommend that unless you weer more familiar with the system. yes, a car and driver for the day would be best, but then the driver’s just sitting there waiting for you most of the time. Taking a river taxi to the Old Town part of the city, called Rattanakosin, with Khao San Road and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in the middle, is recommended. In that area is also Wat Arun, or the Temple of the Dawn. Scammers proliferate around the area, so use common sense.
Scams: Bangkok is scam central. Violent crime is almost nonexistent, but watch your bag and wallet. Thais are very friendly but NOT so friendly that they want to adopt you as their brother right on the spot. They’re also a little shy and reserved and will usually not start chatting you up right away. Be suspicious of any stranger who appears overly friendly. That goes double for ANYONE who says they have a friend or relative studying in your hometown or is about to go there. No matter how official someone looks, never believe him if he says something is closed for whatever reason; tourist sites do NOT close on holidays. In fact, they never EVER close except at the end of each day. The Skytrain runs 7 days a week 6am-midnight; some people have been lured away by being told the Skytrain does not run on Sundays, even when it was clearly passing by overhead.
The gem scam is especially prevalent here; no, there are NOT ANY government-sanctioned stores, and they do NOT have once-a-year specials that you’re lucky enough to be there on the one day of the year they hold it. the gem scammers are especially persuasive. Even folks who have read all the warnings admit to STILL having been scammed, they were so persuasive. You CANNOT buy gems cheaply here and sell them for a profit in the West, although they will try hard to convince you that is the case. If it were true, they’d be doing it themselves, although they’ll come up with a variety of plausible-sounding reasons why they can’t. And the police will not help you; as long as they’ve actually sold you gems and not, say, cut glass, they’ve not technically broken the law; it’s just that the gems are worth much less than what they led you to believe you could get for them, even less than what you’ve paid for them. Unless you’re a gemologist, just stay OUT of gem stores, period. And don’t listen to fantastic deals at tailor shops either. It’s definitely a case of Buyer Beware here.
Related to scams are tuktuks, the little three-wheeled open-air motorized taxis. Take one for fun, maybe even two, but no matter how hard you bargain, you WILL pay at least double what a Thai pays. Metered air-con taxis are ALWAYS cheaper, even for short hops, so best not to fool with tuktuks except as a fun experience. Never take an air-con taxi that will not use the meter; these are found around just about every bar area and many tourist sites. Simply walk away and hail one down in the street. When I’m out late in the bars, I automatically pass by the taxis parked by the road and hail one down. There are taxi queues at the shopping centers, though, and those are safe; they are required to use the meters and not give you any guff. I assume someone will be picking you up at the airport; if not, use the regular taxi queue there and don’t listen to anyone offering to give you a ride for a flat fee. Tuktuks will also often offer to take you on a full-day sightseeing tour of the city for an outrageously low price, like a buck American, but instead they will really take you to gem and tailor shops that put on the high-pressure sales techniques; the tuktuk driver will secretly receive a fat commission.
Don’t let the scam warnings scare you. Just use common sense and give short shrift to anyone who is overly friendly and you’ll be fine. Thailand is so much safer and more laid back than many other nearby countries that a lot of tourists who have been travelling around tend to let their guard down here, and so the scammers are succesful with them even though they would normally know better.
Bar areas. Patpong is worth a look for the history. A little old and tired now but has a good night market set up for souvenirs. I like the place, but of course these days I don’t go there for the girls, who are largely also old and tired in Patpong, with some exceptions. A lot of tourists expect it to be better than it is. Be careful about some of the upstairs shows. They’ll say no cover charge and then sock you with a giant bill. The safe upstairs ones are owned by what’s called the King’s Group and the Queen’s Group; You will NOT be scammed in those bars. For downstairs bars, Safari Bar (mentioned prominently in at least one Tom Robbins book) and Goldfingers have good music late at night. The aforementioned Madrid Bar has great pizza and other food, but best known for their pizza; I recommend the Madrid Special.
And forgive me for mentioning it, especially if you are actually female, but no rundown on Patpong would be complete without saying, but Rose, Kangaroo (both upstairs) and Star of Light bars are all what are called blowjob bars. In Star of Light, you’ll even be serviced right at the bar while you’re enjoying your beer. Star of Light opens at 10am, Rose at noon, Kangaroo in the early afternoon. You will not be ripped off in any of those. In fact, many of the Star of Light girls have worked there for years and take special pride in their skill. I admit I have taken people there who really, really wanted to see it for themselves.
Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy are two other bar areas, and you will not be scammed in any bar there. Nana Plaza has become too expensive and focuses nowadays a lot on Japanese tourists, because they throw around money like there was no tomorrow. Many of the girls even dress themselves up as and wear their hair like Japanese, to attract them. I’d say pass on Nana; I’ve not been there for a couple of years, and every time I hear about it, it’s always negatively. There are a few transvestite bars there, though, if that’s your thing: Casanova, Obsession and Cascade. There’s also another blowjob bar a block or so over in Soi 8 called Lolita’s; it’s actually a nationwide chain, with branches in Pattaya and Hua Hin and opens at 11am. (Used to have a branch in Patpong, but just could not compete with the longer-established BJ bars and so shut down soon.)
Near Nana Plaza is a little bar area in Soi 7/1 (note that’s 7/1, NOT 7) that is laid back and low key but kind of nice. Nothing special, but no hassles.
Soi Cowboy is arguably the best bar area now. A really fun atmosphere, lots of neon, no scams. The best live lesbian sex shows, too, and really no cover charge for them. For the shows, go to Suzie Wong or Sheba’s. The shows start about 10:30pm, but best to be there not too later than 10. A good clue that a show is about to start is that it’s filling up with guys suddenly. You can get a hand job or blowjob in the Naughty Boy Corner of After Skool Bar, where the girls all dress up like schoolgirls, and hand jobs in Fanny’s, Moonshine Joint, Jungle Jim’s and Toy bars, but if that is NOT what you’re after, don’t even bother going in, as while you won’t get scammed, the girls will give you some heavy pressure to indulge, and there are lots of other bars there that allow you to just sit back and mellow out. A good bar rundown for Soi Cowboy is here. I particularly like Five Star Bar, with its long-running Iron Horse Band that plays all of the hits from the 1960s and 1970s, like The Beatles and The Eagles, even Pink Floyd! It also has the cheapest beer in the soi.
Oh, there’s going to be maybe a four-day bar closure from about this coming Friday (no one’s sure of the exact days), because of a public cremation for a member of the royal family. There are always bars that stay open secretly, but they may not be apparent to the average tourist’s eye.
Back to regular tourist stuff. A day trip out of the city could include Ayutthaya and Bang Pa-in, two hours or less north of Bangkok. A weekend trip to Kanchanaburi is good; that’s where the actual Bridge over the River Khwai is. Chatuchak Market, at the end of one of the Skytrain lines and near a subway stop, is interesting to see. The wife says she actually likes Khao San Road better for tourist trinkets, says Khao San Road is actually cheaper; that’s where she goes to buy gifts for foreigners, Khao San Road.
You will be within walking distance of the Suan Lum Night Bazaar, across from Lumpini Park. It’s a newer, cleaner version of Chatuchak Market. Some good beer places there, too. For merchandise, bargain hard at markets like Suan Lum and Chatuchak; there is usually no bargaining in shopping centers and department stores, except maybe at independent stands just renting space.
I would not worry about the political violence you may have been hearing about. That is not very close to most toursut areas. It’s a little close to Vimanmek Mansion, the former palace of King Chulalongkorn (and the largest teakwood building in the world, but you probably won’t get caught up in that.
The movie situation is improving. Movies are not as heavily censored as they used to be, and they just implemented an experimental US-style rating system on the first of this month. In the past a movie might have the naughty bits Vaselined over or cut out altogether in one cinema but not another, but supposedly now they won’t. We’ll see. The cinemas in the shopping malls are very modern, but our favorite one is the Scala in Siam Square. A giant, venerable old movie house, tickets still only about US$3. The new James Bond is there now. The Siam, also in Siam Square, runs a close second.
The shopping centers are worth a look. Siam Paragon is a couple of years old and the largest shopping center in Southeast Asia or maybe all of Asia, something like that. It has a giant aquarium in the basement (which they originally tried to bill as the largest in the Southern Hemisphere; no mean trick considering we’re north of the equator :D). The Emporium is good, MBK is good. The main Central Department Store is good. All of these, and Siam Square, are on the Skytrain line.
And yes, pick up a good guidebook. I second the recommendation for Lonely Planet; they even have a book just for Bangkok and the surrounding area.
Hope this helps. Enjoy! 
