Great advice posted by all.
Gear depends the way you build your Monk to how you play. The hardest road is from your level 55 Items... how good are they?
Melee: EE weapon (staff, dagger or spear) ... Dex Armor & Main Charm ... 150% EE Heal type charm in ACC slot (optional, but does come in handy. Abilities Retribution & Powerstrike (only 2 abilities) ... Full Vitality build.
Melee / Heal: Similar to above, optional Int Armor with Dex Main Charm and 150% EE Heal type ACC charm. Abilities: Retribution & Salvation (only 2 abilities) ... 50 Base Intelligence & Rest Vitality (best to pump vita to 75 then get 50 to Int & rest Vitality) ... Note: you can just have 30 base Int and rest Vitality.
Caster: (heals) Int weapon, Armor and EE cast charm in Main Slot and EE heal charm in ACC (note: you can swap Heal to main for better heals if needed). Abilities: Powercast & Salvation (only 2 abilities) ... 75 Vitality and rest Int. (note: Use melee setup for early levels to like 25 to 35+ depending on what you already have, then switch to casting after you have sorted out your Base stats).
It all comes down to you how you want to set up your build, also, at higher levels (excluding 71+) you can use the /set easy 1 to make it easier to explore.
If you find it hard to deal with 3 normal mob spawn, then you need to watch your life bar more frequently, also you will notice that sometimes it is easier than other times, that is because of monster level (not necessarily type)
Remember, all previous advice from others are great. Test what you are comfortable with.