It does exist, it's just annoyingly less common than it is in the UK.

Ah, cheers. In that case, I think we just got unlucky. Since the plug-chain is in my experience almost universal (excepting where there are internal level systems, or no plug-hole at all as per the tip-up basins on the Indian Pacific train), I was a tad bemused.

It's the little differences that get you. Great big parrots in a city centre? Yeah, no problem.

Also unknown here. All sinks sold nowadays here have a plug lowering/raising mechanism built in.
When i stop seeing separate hot/cold faucets in public bathrooms/lavatories the UK you can start finding fault with foreign installations. Frankly, that is disgusting and insanely uncomfortable

I'm not sure what's disgusting about separate hot and cold taps. Inconvenient, yes (though many combined taps are pretty damned stupid). But disgusting?

I do note that there is in some places a return to the simpler designs of the past, on the grounds that the greater reliability brought by greater simplicity is desirable.

What I find deeply stupid is those cases where there is a single tap, with no temperature control, and a sign saying 'Beware - water may be hot!'.

The disgusting bit is that one should wash one's hands under running water, especially in public bathrooms.
I have sympathy with the 'fill sink, wash in sink, save water' view but not in public bathrooms, and anyway that doesn't work where there are no plugs (The Hilton, iirc, and many other places.)
Also, those public taps that require turning, often forcefully -> more disgusting. A mixer tap that can be lifted and set with, say, the back of one's hand = neat and hygienic.
Your last example is of course deeply stupid and getting common. I obviously like the ones where there is a sensor that sets off the water, but there should absolutely be some way of setting temperature.