That was not a brothel, just an ordinary Thai Bar. It probably had room at the back for 'short time' which is quite common throughout Thailand.

Madame is not called that but is a Mama San and that goes for almost every bar and brothels throughout the country. You sound like you had the naivity of youth. Brothels as such are rare except in the bigger cities in areas like Pat Pong in Bangkok where the upstairs clubs operate.

I lived in Pattaya for close on 15 years, I had property there as my office for covering the whole region. Pattaya city has thousands of bars like that and even if they don't have short time rooms nearby all the girls will be available, if they like you. Every bar will charge you a "Bar Fine" for taking the lady away from her work. Most will make a private arrangement as a gift for spending the night or short time with you.

I knew many ex-pats who married and stayed with those young women, some had families and stayed together like any marriage. It is a way of life out there. To call them prostitutes is an insult. Yes they are selling themselves if you look at it from a Western judgemental way, but it is a cultural thing. When I was there a woman Minister in the government went around all the bars asking the girls if they were prostitutes and they all said "no," of course. This was after some western newspapers were telling their readers there were 20,000 prostitutes in the area. They did not like the bad publicity for their tourist industry. A minister like that would be considered "Hi-So" (upper class) and the ordinary people laughed at her.

If you travelled South East Asia you would have seen a variety of that attitude in bars elsewhere. Each country has a different attitude to it. But in Thailand it is just "working in bar."

Calling that a brothel would be considered a disparaging statement.