In some campaigns, monk can actually be a viable character. I would never take more than 11 levels (for Greater Flurry) though. The most fun thing to do with Monk, in my opinion, is to take the TWF chain so you can get a ton of attacks. Add in one level of Barbarian with the trade-in that gives you Pounce instead of Fast Movement. This will let you get your full attack pretty much every time.
Is it a super-powerful idea? Not at all, but it's a ton of fun.
Another option is to get 6-7 levels of Horizon Walker, for Dimension Door and Tremmorsense, or, alternatively, very high dexterity and four levels in Jaunter. Add in Quicken Spell Like Ability, and you can be jumping around like crazy in combat, and your overland movement speed gets up to 40-50MpH eventually. I played a character like this right up to epic levels, and while he wasn't the most powerful character in the group, he was lots of fun, and I never felt like I was totally overwhelmed by the rest of the party.
The Ancestral Relic feat helps with magic items. It's probably better than Vow of Poverty, because it basically lets you select whatever items you want, though often at higher cost.
