Winking Monks

I've been home for 2 weeks now and I can't help but reminisce. On our first day in Bangkok I remember being on a very large and busy street, the faces of the buildings were caked in layers of smog, giving that street the illusion that it had once caught fire. As I was standing on the side of this street waiting for any bus going my direction, I observed a public bus, full to the brim and just as dirty as the buildings. The bus passed me slow enough for me to see an older monk in the back of the bus next to the window. He was covering his nose and mouth with a handful of his worn, orange robe. I gave him a huge smile--not really sure why, monks just seem adorable to me--and to my surprise he lowered his grip of robe to smile back at me with a hole-filled Cheshire cat smile. On top of returning my smile generously, he winked at me! It wasn't a sexual wink in the least, it was the kind of wink you give someone after you tell them a funny joke. I turned to my mom to see if she had witnesses this insanely hilarious moment, she hadn't, so I explained and she didn't believe me.
At first I thought that maybe I had seen wrong...that was until we were at the end of our trip. On our last day we passed another monk on the street, this time he was donning a brown set of robes. I'm not going to lie, he looked like a cartoon character, he was amazingly wrinkly and his face looked smooshed vertically, his chin jutted out under his sunken lips. There was something about him though, when I looked at him he looked like he had a funny secret to tell someone, but never would. And, to my surprise again, I tested him to see if he would smile at me. I gave him a cheery smile and guess what he did, Yup, he gave me a huge grin (completely toothless this time save for 1 or 2 tiny teeth) and winked!!!! I was so amused :)

I really don't understand. Winking monks baffle me.