SINGAPORE, April 21 — Never mind the haters or the foreboding skies — thousands turned up at popular travel video blogger Nas Daily’s fan meet at Botanic Gardens yesterday.

According to the National Parks Board, there were some 2,000 people in the crowd.

The crowd was a mix of locals and foreigners, young and old. One Australian fan specially flew in to Singapore when he found out about the event about two weeks ago.

At the event, the vlogger behind Nas Daily, Nuseir Yassin, also announced that he is writing a book about his travels that will be published at the end of this year — but it will likely only be available in the United States.

Responding to a fan question about whether he was working on a book, he said: "How did you know? We’re working on book, it’s going to launch the end of this year. It’s going to be a summary of this entire journey, things I haven’t said in the videos that are more exclusive (in) the book.

"It’s about the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful.”

He added: "It’s going to be in the US, I don’t think it’s going to be in Singapore, but if it is I’ll let you know.”

The event yesterday, held at the lawn next to the eco lake in Botanic Gardens, was Yassin’s first fan meet in Singapore since he announced that he would be moving here.

Australian David Sauzier, 44, had booked tickets to Singapore the moment he heard that Yassin was having his first fan meet here.

"I’ve met Nas in Broome, Western Australia, and we spent about a week together,” Sauzier said.

Sauzier, who became a fan of Yassin since he began watching the Nas Daily videos on Facebook two years ago, said: "(Nas) managed to make the fan meeting enjoyable, I was entertained every minute.”

Among the many young fans in the crowd, 73-year-old retiree Tony Ho stood out.

Ho, who attended the fan meet with his wife and two kids, said: "About a year ago, I was struck by one of his travel videos and I’ve been a fan since. I feel that his videos are very informative, and he shares something unknown about a country to the world. We can learn so much from him.”

Yassin, a Harvard graduate, has more than 12 million followers on his Facebook page.

The former software developer has travelled the world for three years, documenting his experiences in one-minute videos.

"It gets lonely when travelling. It’s fun for about two months, but then you want some friends,” he said at the fan meeting yesterday.

His girlfriend and fellow video blogger, Alyne Tamir, 28, revealed on March 20 that the couple would be relocating to Singapore. Earlier this month, Yassin announced that he would be arranging a fan meet-up upon arriving.

Yassin and Tamir landed in Singapore on Wednesday.

It was reported that the couple will be temporarily staying at Winsland Serviced Suites by Lanson Place near Somerset MRT.

It will act as both home and office until they purchase a house, assisted by 99.co, an online service that helps users find homes for sale and for rent in Singapore.

At the fan meet yesterday, Yassin also gave out T-shirts, responded to fans’ questions, and asked his fans for possible video ideas to work on while in Singapore.

His fans threw up various ideas — from videos about Singapore’s train system to the deep tunnel sewerage system.

Yassin had also announced earlier that he was looking to set up a production company.

At the event, one fan, Wang Ye, a 26-year-old economics student at the National University of Singapore, asked Yassin if she could work for him, for free.

She did not get a job offer — Yassin said he did not believe in hiring people for free — but he asked her to send him videos she had worked on for consideration. — TODAY