I was working on a halfling caravan project for a while, but since I didn't really like the halfling list in the journal I kind of left the project on the back burner.
As Balrog said there are reasons for the halflings to be in Cathay, food obviously but if you dig deeper into ogre fluff you see that the halflings used to live in the hinterlands of cathay. Some fled to the Moot when the Great Maw descended, but isn't it likely that some ended up in Cathay, Nippon and Ind instead?
And how awesome wouldn't Cathayan halflings be! Or the Ind version?