Thorn Tree travel forum

another China itinerary

Hello,

My girlfriend and I are traveling to China in August for 30 days. We have a itinerary-idea like this one: Beijing (around 4 days) -- night train -- Xi'an (also around 4 days) -- flight -- Lijiang (4/5 days, doing the Tiger Leaping Gorge hike) -- bus -- Zhongdian (couple of days) -- flight -- Lhasa (a week, or more) -- train -- Beijing (couple of days before departing).

We have some time left, it's maybe nice to stay in Tibet longer than a week. Maybe you guys have some suggestions? I've read in this forum that going from Zhongdian to Lhasa is a very expensive way.. What is the cheapest way to get to Lhasa (including the permit). We want to travel low-budget.
Thanks!