is Karakol to Bukhara in 10 days doable?

[houseplant]

I am planning a 10 day trip to central Asia. The two places I really want to see are Bukhara and Karakol (Jyrgalan more specifically). I'm planning for a 4 day trek in the Karakol region. What would be the best way to get between the two cities? Based on my research, there would be a decent amount of backtracking and travel time.

I would probably fly into Tashkent (1 night) -train> Bukhara (3 nights) -train> Tashkent -fly> Bishkek (1 night) -bus> Karakol (4/5 nights) -bus> Bishkek -fly> Tashkent (1 night) ->fly out next day.

The problem with this is that it is 11-12 days if you include the flight into and out of Tashkent, which I could do but would prefer to keep it to 10 days if possible. There is also a lot of travel time between cities, which is also not desirable. I could see flying into Tashkent and out of Bishkek, but that would raise my flight cost (unless the difference is less than the return trip to Tashkent). Is there any other way to plan this? Should I just do Kyrgyzstan/Uzbekistan separately? There aren't many other cities that I'd be interested in visiting except maybe Osh in Kyrgyzstan. I'm open to other suggestions as well.

[steven]

I'd do them separately. Like you said, there is a lot of transport involved.

Are these really the only 2 places you want to see? As someone who sees his work as trying to get people to dig deeper and learn more about Central Asia, that's a disappointment. Perhaps you should read some books/watch documentaries?

I haven't written much about Uzbekistan yet, but others have.

What about meeting local people? Or just letting serendipity take over? I always find that brings about the most memorable parts of a trip.

[houseplant]

Maybe not the only places that I'd like to see, but the top two because I really see the natural beauty (and stay in a yurt) in Kyrgyzstan as well as visit a city that was culturally significant to the silk road (Bukhara). I would definitely like to focus more on an area, but I have limited vacation time. I could do 2 separate trips, but it would be at least a year between and I don't like waiting

Are there any places in Kyrgyzstan that have a strong historical tie to the silk road that you would recommend? Or trekking in Uzbekistan?
Could you recommend some documentaries as well?

[houseplant]

I think I will definitely have to do 2 trips now that I am looking deeper into Uzbekistan. The Nuratau mountains and Kyzylkum desert look incredibly interesting; I think those two combined with Bukhara (and maybe Samarkand since it's on the way to Bukhara) would make for a good 10-day trip. I guess the mountains in Kyrgyzstan will have to wait a year.