Thorn Tree travel forum

Beijing to Lhasa to Kahtmandu

hi everybody,

this summer i will work in a chinese hospital in beijing for one month.
after that i'm planning to travel to lhasa and from there to kathmandu.

does anybody know, if it's possible to fly from beijing to lhasa AND get the tibet travel permit without any group-tour ?
do you think i could do that ?
if yes, do you know how much that would be ?

once in lhasa i wanted to stay there for a couple of days and then continue overland to kathmandu.
is it possible to do this on my own as well,
or would it be nessecary to take for example a 7-days tour to the nepali border ?
any idea about costs ?

thanks, i'm keen on receiving some answers !
seamo