About halfway between the Forbidden City and the Sphinx, the mud finally broke through our shoes and started to seep into our socks. We had tried to hitch a ride from a few of the motor scooters parked outside the Tian’anmen gates, and from the omnipresent minivans carting workers from one international landmark to another – but to no avail. That’s how we ended up walking through the muddy depths from Qing dynasty China to ancient Egypt.