long or LOBs in oracle ???

Hi everybody, I have a little question. What is the best datatype to put large character data into (more than 5.000-20.000 letters). Maybe a CLOB or a long ? I am quiet new to oracle so I don't know so much about the LOBs and how Oracle handles it. On thing is, that I have to use more than one large field in one table, this means that I cannot use the long type, because only one is allowed, right. OK Then I think there is only a LOB Type (maybe the CLOB is the best for my stuff). I tried it, but I cannot put the data in the normal way into the field, like I am used to with MYSQL longtext type. How can I put LOB data into the DB via PHP or is there an other method to put large character data into the DB, can anybody help me thanx in advance, Andy