There’s a lot going on at the Thai Freedom House (http://thaifreedomhouse.org/).  Their website has information about their educational programs, but only walking around the Free Bird Cafe you can find volunteer opportunities, a laundry service, old clothes, new jewelery, and spa products for sale, along with some of Chiang Mai’s very limited supply of vegan cheese:

The Free Bird Cafe, in a small and crowded garden on Moon Muang soi 7, benefits the Thai Freedom House with their coffee and breakfasts along with Western, Thai, and Burmese vegetarian food.  Prices are not cheap (around 50baht for Thai/Burmese food) and 80+ for Western food like bruschetta and hummus, but coffee is a good value and quality is high.  I had a spinach and cream cheese quiche (80 baht):

The texture of this quiche was more like a soufflé, but the crust was crunchy and tasted homemade.  I tasted far more spinach than cheese, (and more nutmeg than anything else), but it was a satisfying lunch.  A little pricey for me to eat there often, but the decorations and the food felt like I’d been invited to a friend’s house.

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