The Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has left the capital, Rangoon, for the first time since her release from house arrest last month.

Aung San Suu Kyi was released five weeks ago

She left her house early on Friday morning to on a pilgrimage to the Buddhist shrine at Thamanya mountain, 320 kilometres (200 miles) south-east of Rangoon.

She left quietly without prior announcement, apparently to ensure that she was not followed by crowds of supporters.

The two-day excursion, to Karen state, is being seen as a test of her freedom of movement after years under travel restrictions and house arrest.

An attempt to leave Rangoon in August 2000 resulted in a nine-day stand-off when police blocked her car on a road.

She was eventually forced to return home.

An attempt to travel by train to Mandalay the following month, led to a period of house arrest, which lasted for 20 months until early May.

Private trip

Aung San Suu Kyi is a devout Buddhist, and she will meet a monk, U Viniya, at Thamanya mountain.

She visited the monk in 1995, after she was released from an earlier period of detention.

Burma's generals seem unwilling to talk

"The visit is a private pilgrimage," according to a source from her National League for Democracy (NLD).

She was accompanied by the NLD chairman Tin Oo and his wife.

The NLD easily won the 1990 elections, the last to be held in Burma, but the military has refused to give up power.

Aung San Suu Kyi has said she wanted to resume talks with army leaders as soon as possible.

But since her release from her latest period of detention on 6 May, the generals have made no attempt to resume talks with her.