West Papua is also known as Irian Jaya although the name Papua or West Papua is more accepted by the locals and transmigrants are more likely to use either name. The main landing points for travel from elsewhere in Indonesia are Timika, Biak or the capital Jayapura. Jayapura is the hub for travel by land to Papua New Guinea or the short turbo-prop flight to the tribal area of Wamena. Wamena is the most famous area of Papua and is one of the few accessible traditional tribal areas. Tourists around here tend to be of the more 'hardy' type as it's not easy or cheap to get there and the quality of accommodation tends to be lower than average with hotel, food and certainly travel prices being significantly higher. Views around the Baliem valley and the island as a whole are spectacular. Internet access is difficult beyond Wamena; Jayapura has three Internet cafes although they have their problems and not all are always open or working. Power cuts can be very frequent as the area needs to import fuel to power a city-wide electricity generator (no power stations) and the supply is by boat so can be easily disrupted. There are also sometimes disruption to the supply of natural gas refills that can restrict the food available.

The locals can seem less friendly than Indonesians but that's simply because they aren't culturally Indonesians so it's essentially an unfair comparison. They may just stare at you and not talk, this is not being rude it's just their way of being curious; others may ask what feels like a thousand questions. It does seem that some people don't have a perspective of what's rude and what isn't so keep this in mind if someone is seemingly impolite.

Overall a great place unless you're on a tight budget or expect luxury on a budget.

One warning, some people drink far too much and can get very friendly. It's considered losing face to be overly friendly with drunk people and the drinks they have are often very toxic, often illegal and could make you very ill. Generally don't mention where you live or where you're staying unless you can welcome guests.

Was in Jayapura (capital city of Papua) for 4 days, touring around the city was easy using a rented car. Roads are easy to remember as there are not many branching roads around. Foods are rather expensive in general but connectivity was a breeze. We were using 3G phones for internet, our hotel Humbolt at the port, serve wifi for free at the lobby. But the speed is pretty bad for loading images. So we end up using 3G modem for faster loading.
Beware of parking your car at the famous tourist spot as some young locals may ask for rather bug sum of money for "parking fee".
Scenery in Papua was great, clean a mix of small islands, lake (Sentani), river mountain.

eek, incredible...scariest plane ride i have ever been on. Worst hotel i've ever stayed in. Most hassled by people in the street i've ever been. Most Scared. Most in Awe. Most Cultural place ive been - we visited a local tribe who still cut the fingers and ears off of people who have lost relatives and who had a real mummy lived an absolutely traditional lifestyle. crazy!