my html code
<ul>
<li><a href="javascript:myfunc('aaa')">xxx</a><li>
<ul id="aaa">
<li></li>
</ul>
<li><a>xxx</a><li>
<ul>
<li></li>
</ul>
</ul>

function myfunc(a){
var a=getElementById('a');
var b=a.parentNode.childNodes;
for(var i=0;i<b.length;i++){
alert(b[i].nodeName);
}

i didn't understand it alert A,#TEXT,#UL
i thought i should alert LI UL LI UL

WHY....?
}

yeah, i'll second PettyRider, if yr not starting from valid X/HTML then trying to use the DOM is going to be a crapshoot.