The Hope diamond, est. US$250 million. At the National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. The colour is suppose to be blue, but the camera lighting skewed it. You can read about its long and dramatic history from this link. The centre diamond is a natural blue stone around 45 carats, there are 16 white diamonds surrounding it with 45 in total for the whole necklace. From what I've read, the blue diamond is the rarest of all natural diamonds and this particular gem is the biggest of them all.

Speaking of diamonds. This company sells artificial diamonds of a different kind. They've been around for a few years and I've seen them on the news a couple of times. At first I was skeptical, but they seem legitimate and is actually doing well (seeing that they're still around after some time).

Took this picture back in July of this year. A clear sky. 

Same view as the previous post, but this time at dusk hour. Views like this are getting rarer these days as winter approaches. It's been cloudy often here at Toronto lately. 

I have moved! Here's a view from my balcony. A spectacular view overlooking Toronto downtown, isn't it?

I thought I might give Tokyo a break for a while as I still have many pictures from my recent trips. This one here is from Mong Kok, Hong Kong. A street-side-snack-seller. I was quite amazed by the sheer number of these places in HK. There weren't as many last time I've been to HK a couple years back. These days you're bound to run into them everywhere you go. The guy in the picture doesn't seem too busy. But pictures can be deceiving. This place is literally jam packed with people at the time. A second before the photo, he was serving customers with one hand, collecting money with the other, and taking orders from numerous customers. I was quite astounded to find that he actually stopped everything he was doing and posed for my picture without me asking (I originally wanted to capture the action). Either that or he was giving me the "look" and wanting me to move out of the way... I never did find out as the crowd grew to like 20 people by the time I'm done. So I thanked him hastily and moved along.

Here's my "capsule" which I'm staying for a night in Tokyo. At 3000yen, it's more expensive than the budget hotel I stayed in (in a previous post). Let me roll back a bit with some background information. For those not familiar, Tokyo's property prices is one of the highest in the world (I think it's either first or second...). Thus, hotels are very expensive. A couple of decades ago, these "capsule hotels" start appearing. Instead of a room, you only get a "capsule". They are layed one on top of the other as you can see in the picture. And there are many (about 40) of these in a big room. These hotels cater to businessmen that miss the night train home, as most people live in suburban Tokyo. In addition, after work socialization is part of the business culture there, so this is a huge market. Anyway, long story short, because these capsule hotels are so unique, eventually the foreigners catch on and you can find them being mentioned in practically all tourist guides of Tokyo. And that is the reason why I stayed there for a night.
First thought I had when I saw it is that it's pretty good. True that it's no comparison to a real room, but it certainly isn't a coffin either. The height of it is about 1.5 meters, 1m wide, and about 2.5m long. You can easily sit up to watch your personal mini-TV within the capsule. It also has a light, radio, and clock built into the side panel. The whole capsule is more like a plastic shower mold tilted to the side as it seems to be made up of the same material. You have a curtain at the opening for privacy. Ventilation is very good at the place, so don't worry about getting stuffy. The only annoyance I had with my stay is the noise. Late in the night, when the drunk businessmen start arriving, they can cause a racket. Add to that, many snored in their sleep. Lucky that I have my earplugs in. There's a washroom and a common area for people to smoke in another room, so don't worry about being smoked. The Japanese style bath is on another floor. Perhaps I might describe these later on as they're different from the western type. Heck, everything's different there. Anyway, everything's very clean and tidy at the capsule hotel, so I do recommend you try it for yet another "been there done that" experience in Tokyo. Just remember to bring earplugs!
For the ladies though, make sure the capsule hotel you'd like to go welcome female and provide a separate area with equal service (I've seen one where their female room only provide airplane-style recliners instead of capsule beds). As most of these places are male only. Not that for any dirty reason, but merely because there are very few female patrons. My group stayed at Asakusa Riverside and the girls were quite happy with their stay. Furthermore, Asakusa is a nice district in Tokyo with many things to see and do.

The gate to Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. A very long and serene path from this point to the actual shrine. Lots of vegetations and humongous trees. I definitely didn't expect to find a place like this within Tokyo.