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Inside The Taj Rebak Island Resort, Langkawi

Where: Kuah Langkawi, Kedah Darul Aman, Malaysia

Until last week, if you said “Langkawi" to us, we’d have replied ”Datai”. Admittedly, this is mainly because we once had the pleasure of interviewing his hotness Ewan McGregor, and he said that the Datai was his favourite hotel in the world, and we’ve been indulging in poolside cocktail fantasies ever since. But also, the Datai is pretty synonymous with Langkawi luxury.

Langkawi luxury, Datai-style, comes at a price, though – rooms start at $400 and up. We were looking for luxury on a budget, so when we found rates at $121 at the Taj Rebak Island Resort (formerly known as the Rebak Marina Resort), we decided that Ewan wasn’t really worth an extra $300 a night.

We were a bit hesitant on arrival, because the website wasn’t that inspiring, and TripAdvisor had some very mixed reviews. Speaking to locals, apparently it used to be a little grim before Taj took it over two years ago – but none of them had been out since the revamp.

So we were preparing for the worst. As we were being driven from the airport down a grotty, un-paved path to the hotel jetty (it’s the only resort on Langkawi to be on its own private island, so you have to get a boat to and from the main island of Langkawi), we were having doubts.

But then we reached a pretty little gazebo with snazzy armchairs on the water’s edge, and after a short wait (we timed our flight well) we got onto the boat. It’s about 10-15 minutes to the island, and on our way we spied a pod of dolphins. Things were looking up.

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