In this series, author and journalist Simon Reeve travels to Central Asia to "meet the Stans" - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. His journey provides viewers with a unique insight into these countries' culture and politics. As well as discovering a region teeming with Islamic militants, ruthless tyrants and radioactive wastelands, Reeve also finds a more absurd side to these obscure countries, including an American military base that sells Soviet knick-knacks, a desert full of shipwrecks and a first-rate Beatles tribute band. Part One: Kazakhstan - The country has oil deposits thought to rival those of Saudi Arabia. However, Simon also finds a former biological weapons factory with poor security but still storing a hundred types of plague, what was once the Aral Sea where camels now graze amidst rusting ships, and the region's best Beatles tribute band.