Went to Victoria Park here in Hong Kong today, and it is a very special place. For one big reason:

The north side of Hong Kong Island is one of the most crowded places on Earth. One sprawling mass of high-rises, narrow streets and yard-wide sidewalks. Block after block of man-made structures.

And then all of a sudden … you’ve got Victoria Park, 47 acres of greenery, an island of something resembling nature surrounded by towering skyscrapers.

It is Hong Kong’s answer to New York’s Central Park. Except far smaller. Central Park is 843 acres. But New York City, Manhattan, even, is enormous compared to the strip of life known as Hong Kong.

We spent the afternoon there today, our one shared day off. It was refreshing to be there. And a little goofy.

We entered from the north, from the Tin Hau metro station.

First thing I noticed? The four basketball courts. Jammed with guys playing 3-on-3 half-court games, with dozens of other teams waiting to get back on the court.

The players weren’t awful. Some of them could play a little. I watched a game with a guy who looked like he would be an effective point guard in a U.S. pickup game, and another with a nice perimeter shooting touch.

One fun aspect of it? On a sign next to the court is a message that reads, “Dunk shot not recommended.” Which made me smile, because there couldn’t have been a half-dozen guys out there taller than 6-foot. Those games were played below the rim. Far below.

Behind the basketball courts are six mini soccer fields, and they were busy, as well. How they managed to get in a satisfying game was beyond me, however, because the playing surface is pavement. And the ball rolls around like mad. They play with a smaller ball, and seem to try to keep the ball from leaving the pitch … but still. It was more like human pinball.

To the right of the entrance are nine tennis courts, with a semi-serious “center” court that apparently can host professional tournaments.

But the best part of the park is the greenery. The trees. The bushes. The flowers. Most of them carefully trimmed and displayed. We walked through there and could almost feel the oxygen from the plants.

We moseyed over to the jogging track, a 600-meter rectangle with a big grass yard in the middle of it. Perhaps the biggest swath of grass on Hong Kong Island. Some goofy folks were going through some sort of martial arts class. It involved a drum. Earlier in the day, the lawn is packed by elderly folks doing their morning “tai-chi” exercises.

Eventually, I summoned the energy to do eight laps of the jogging perimeter (about three miles), even in the humidity and heat of the late Hong Kong afternoon. It was doable because I was in shade (eucalyptus trees, mostly), and because the track is made of a sort of bouncy rubber that is kind to the joints.

The track has about 10 signs around it reminding everyone (in Cantonese and English) that the path is for joggers only, and three city employees prowled the perimeter running off people just strolling, or kids who wanted to skateboard. It was crowded, still, but you could get by people. Just.

Interesting group of joggers/walkers. Women in skirts with purses. Some older guys in tennis shoes, slacks and T-shirts. One middle-aged woman wore a full sweatsuit on a very warm afternoon … and lapped me twice.

When I finished, and was chilling out, I watched a batch of Westerners setting up a picnic on the lawn. Somebody was turning 3 or 4, judging from the size of the kids. Then, right at 5 p.m., the lawn’s sprinklers came on, with a vengeance, and the birthday party was routed. Some of the kids began to cry. The adults scurried around, picking up birthday hats that had fallen off, and grabbing the cake and the gifts.

We wandered around much of the rest of the place. Saw the pond where middle-aged men race their miniature power boats. One older guy was rocketing his one-foot boat around the pond, via remote … when the boat flipped and came to a halt upside down. The other boaters laughed at him.

We saw a religious shrine, and several kiddie playgrounds with child-safe plastic equipment. We walked past knots of expat housekeepers and babysitters who seem to collect in ethnic groups to speak their native tongues and just hang out with folks from home. Filipinas, Malays, Indonesians, it would seem.

We saw the “pebble” walking trail. A very Chinese concept, apparently. About 100 yards of a path with river-bottom stones placed with the edges up … and you walk on the edges, and it’s supposed to be good for your feet. Though the sign outside the pebble walking trail had about 15 warnings for the infirm, the overweight, the elderly, etc.

I passed on it, though I discovered later it’s good for you. Apparently.

I didn’t see the statue of Queen Victoria of England, for whom the park is named. Hong Kong was an British colony, remember, for 155 years.

The park actually isn’t all that old. It was built about 50 years ago on land reclaimed from the harbor. (Lots of Hong Kong Island used to be part of the harbor.)

It’s a great idea. An oasis of green in an incredibly crowded, over-built stretch of land. In that way it’s just like Central Park. But the way it’s laid out, and its size, and the variety of entertainment options on the grounds reminded me more of the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. Right down to the pond where kids set out their boats, and the nannies pushing strollers with kids, and the jogging path, and the signs attached to trees and bushes telling you what variety of plant they are.

I can see myself going back, to Victoria Park. And hanging around. Just sitting there under the shade of a tree.

You don’t realize how much you miss greenery — a bit of lawn or a copse of trees — till you go without it for a week or two.