The following is taken from a letter to the editor dated Rangoon, 14 April 1989. The reference to the Danubyu trip alludes to an incident when soldiers were ordered to shoot Aung San Suu Kyi as she walked calmly towards them. They were countermanded by a senior officer just as the countdown was ending.
The last trip (after the Danubyu one) was rather gruelling, travelling by bullock cart and small boats in the blazing sun – alas, your Suu is getting weather-beaten, none of that pampered elegance left as she tramps the countryside spattered with mud, straggly-haired, breathing in dust and pouring with sweat! I need a few months in grey, damp Oxford to restore my complexion! But in spite of all the difficulties I feel that what I am doing is worthwhile – the people of Burma deserve better than this mess of inefficiency, corruption and misuse of power.