19 photos from my stay at the hottest new hotel in China's tech capital

Known for its giant pandas and spicy Sichuan cuisine, China's western city of Chengdu is also a major tech hub. People like to call it the San Francisco of China.

Earlier this year it was revealed that a whopping 265 of the world's Fortune 500 companies have offices in the city. And in the Milken Institute's 2015 report on China's best-performing cities, Chengdu's economy ranked No. 1 over Shanghai and Beijing.

Ride-hailing juggernaut Uber is one of those companies with a branch in Chengdu; its service in China was launched here.

Another of the city's tourism and transportation coups is a near-$11 billion airport that will enter construction in late 2015, further connecting the Sichuan province's capital to Europe.

With all that activity (and the traffic to match), it's hard to believe that the Chengdu is defined by its languid pace and pleasant work-life balance. On the weekends, locals like to sip away entire days at their favorite teahouse.

Travel writer and tea expert Kathy YL Chan recently checked into Chengdu's newest luxury hotel, The Temple House, which takes root near a 1,000-year-old temple and caters to the traveling business elite with amenities like email checkout and a zen courtyard that dates back to the Quing Dynasty.