No, I've never been to Thailand or any other part of Southeast Asia. I did live in Hawaii for years and just loved the fresh-herb-heavy Thai, Cambodian, and Vietnamese restaurants there. I've always had great herb gardens, I just cannot imagine many of these dishes without a lot of mint, parsley, cilantro, etc. Lemon balm just goes great with these dishes. I agree that in American restaurants, even those owned by and/or have chefs from those countries, they don't use as many fresh herbs as the restaurants in Hawaii did (does that make any sense?).
When I make a SE Asian-style soup (no, I do not use authentic recipes, just go by taste) or bun or chop chae (OK, we're not in SEA any more, but Korea), or roll-your-own summer rolls, I sometimes, if it is the season, just take stems of fresh herbs, freshen in cold water, and put on a plate and have everyone tear off what they want to shred into their own dish.