I got to Quan’s “Happy Garden” in the middle of April 2025 when he and his partners were promptly finishing the rough version of “Happy Vietnam” masterpiece. After over 2 months, the work of art is being painted.

Visitors check-in with the masterpieces in the garden.

Looking at the unfinished version, we could easily realise the Vietnam map with Truong Sa and Hoang Sa archipelagoes and flying dragons gracefully coiling around the map of Vietnam and embracing the 2 islands shaped like pearls.

“This masterpiece is named “Happy Vietnam” because the dragons in this work are also happy ones. I want to convey a message of happiness and spread the patriotism spirit and national pride to everyone through this work”, said Quan.

Walking around his family’s land area, I could see not only “Happy Vietnam” but also many other sculpture masterpieces in Quan’s “Happy Garden”. They were the famous Argentinean football player Lionel Messi, Santa Claus and his horses and famous movie characters. Besides, I saw many cute animals and meaningful cultural symbols.

Made from sand and cement with reinforced steel structures, each sculpture is a work of love, carefully shaped by Quan with an eye for details, embedding with its own story and message.

One of his latest and most impressive masterpieces in the “Happy Garden” is the giant mascot “Happy Snake” weighing over 7 tonnes, which was completed before the Lunar New Year of the Snake 2025. Previously, Quan produced the “Baby Dragon”, which was 4.5m high, 10-12 tonne weigh in orange colour in the New Year of the Dragon 2024.

Bui Van Quan used to do farm work before. He fell in love with sculpting statues and giant mascots 3 years ago. It is the passion for art and desire to create funny and meaningful atmosphere for his family and community that motivates him to learn and turn imaginary ideas into lively sculptures.

On his Facebook page, Quan describes himself as a happiness giver. He repeatedly mentioned the word “happiness” through our conversation.

Indeed, happiness has come to him. Since opening the garden to the public for free, it has welcomed tens of thousands of visitors. Most of them shared kind words and expressed their admiration for the gifted craftsmanship of the garden owner.

In line with giant statues and mascots, Bui Van Quan is cherishing a dream to build a “Fairy Tale Garden” in the “Happy Garden” campus right after the “Happy Vietnam” work is completed. The characters from fairy tales like Thach Sanh, Tam Cam and Tri khon cua ta day (It’s my intelligence) will appear in this garden.

Although he received no formal training, he makes up for it with natural talent, a deep passion, and most importantly, the dedicated guidance and mentorship of a teacher in the field of sculpture and modeling.

Quan is carefully refining the details of the work “Happy Vietnam”.

Besides, he often studies on internet and listens to opinions to gain experience.

As most of his works are big and heavy, Quan creates a steel frame based on the design, stretches mesh over it, and then uses a mixture of sand and cement to sculpt the form of each sculpture to ensure good appearance and safety.

With his skillful hands and kind hear, Bui Van Quan is forming a unique cultural space to beautify his homeland of Hiep Hoa district and contributes to enriching the local people’s spiritual life.

Visa policy to attract international visitors

For a long time, visa openness has always been considered by countries as the key to attracting international visitors. That is the reason why most countries that want to develop tourism are moving towards building open and flexible visa policies.

Vietnam launches pilot biometric boarding at Tan Son Nhat Int'l Airport

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended a ceremony for the pilot rollout of the electronic identification, authentication, and biometric boarding solution at Terminal 3, a new facility of Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, on April 19.

Tips for passengers arriving at Vietnam's largest domestic terminal at Tan Son Nhat Airport

Vietnam's largest domestic terminal, T3 at Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat Airport, opened on Thursday and is set for full operation by April 30. Here are some tips for passengers to avoid confusion at the new terminal.

Vietnam has one of world's 10 cleanest airports

Cam Ranh International Airport in the central province of Khanh Hoa was one of 10 cleanest airports serving up to 25 million passengers annually as voted by British air transport rating organization Skytrax.

Ninh Binh holds unique Trang An Festival 2025

Trang An Festival 2025 themed “Trang An – Millennium Heritage, Sacred Spirit of Mountains and Rivers” took place at the Trang An Eco-tourism Complex in Ninh Binh Province on April 13 (the 16th day of the 3rd lunar month).

Optimising the untouched beauty of Bai Tu Long Bay to lure visitors

Located within the buffer zone of the Ha Long World Natural Heritage site, Bai Tu Long Bay boasts more than 300 limestone and shale islands. It features majestic, untouched landscapes, and rich ecosystems.