A universal law - broken!

There is an unwritten rule amongst men, that if you go to take a leak, you don't stand next to another man, if there is another unoccupied urinal more than one space away from him. It's out of politeness and respect for those rare moments of contemplation and satisfaction accompanied by the tinkling sound of running water - it's a kind of zen garden for men, if you will.

The calm of the men's bathroom in the lobby at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou - equipped with no less than 10 pissoirs - was shattered for me as 3 blokes wandered in and proceeded to line up on either side of me until we peed 4 abreast.

Perhaps it's some kind of subconscious Chinese agoraphobia which exhibits itself only when one is - unusually - faced with too much space or an uncrowded area? I don't know.