Getting UL Node Value Nested Inside UL

I am having problems trying to get a UL node nested inside a UL. I have the following html:

<ul onClick="testing(this);">
<li>Vowels
<ul>
<li>A</li>
<li>E</li>
<li>I</li>
<li>O</li>
</ul>
</li>
....
...
...
</ul>

This can get nested 2-3 levels but for now I cant even get the nested UL node with one nested level. I have tried:

function testing(e){
node=e.firstChild.firstChild
alert(node.nodeName)

but it returns "#text" and not the UL node. I usually do this with DIVs with no problem but I though I would try to use ULs this time but I am not having much luck. How can I get the value of this nested UL?