I'm just back from visiting there ( have a friend who has lived there for 40 years). The last words to come to my mind would be 'cess pit'. I was not doing the usual touristy bit (although I did do 2 tours to cover main sites of interest), I was, rather, living there - walking the dog, going to the supermarkets, shops and markets, going to meetings and meals with friends. I loved it! Mind-opening.
The words which spring to my mind regarding Bangkok (a short version of the real name) are skyscrapers and green shanty-town.
Yes there were large ads. for massage salons - and I met people who had been for a simple massage and who swore it had helped bad backs etc.. There was a scandal breaking in The Bangkok Post as I left and I assume the OP is about this, but jet-lag renders me a bit behind the times, the misbehaving salons were being tackled.
Bangkok is built on a delta, it floods. The difference between land and sea is tiny. Nevertheless, they have just opened the first stretch of an underground railway!
As I said, I cannot agree with the 'cess-pit' label.