VietNamNet Bridge - US Ambassador Ted Osius and his spouse Clayton Bond paid a visit to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology to learn about the cultural identities of the 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam last weekend.

US Ambassador Ted Osius and his spouse Clayton Bond at the museum.

The ambassador and the US Embassy staff spent the afternoon visiting the museum and listening to the guide’s introduction to the cultural identities of the peoples of Vietnam.

The Ambassador was very interested in the characteristics of traditional culture of Vietnam such as water puppetry, houses on stilts of people in the northern mountain region, life of the people in the Central Highlands, folk fabrics and paper, ancient books and other artifacts.

He said that he was impressed most by the diversity of the peoples of Vietnam, shown in art, architecture, brocade and the differences of the people of Vietnam in 63 provinces.

"Vietnam's culture is very rich. I was in Vietnam before and took a lot of trips but there are still many things to learn about Vietnam's 54 ethnic groups. I want to go to Vietnam's 63 provinces and cities to see the art as well as to learn about abundant wishes of the peoples of Vietnam," the Ambassador said.

The US Ambassador and his family arrived in Vietnam on December 15, 2014, when he started his working term in Vietnam. Earlier, immediately after being appointed the US Ambassador to Vietnam, he sent greetings to Vietnamese people with an impressive video clip in Vietnamese, in which he said: "My home state is Maryland, and the home state of my spouse, Clayton, is Michigan. We look forward to meeting you."

The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is the most attractive in Vietnam and has also been voted by TripAdvisor as one of the most fascinating museums in Asia in 2014.

T. Van