SHANGHAI - The doors to the train opened, and the crowd pushed in hungrily.

Sliding onto the blue seats, Madora Parmentier was sitting literally on the edge.

"Oh my gosh, no seat belts," the Coeur d'Alene woman said.

Her friend Sue Harrison laughed, and suddenly the train shuddered, and jolted forward.

"Oh, here we go," Harrison said.

Anticipation was high on Tuesday when the Idaho tour group took a pleasure ride on the Shanghai Maglev (magnetic levitation) train, the fastest train in the world that floats above the tracks using magnetic technology.

The train, which travels to the Shanghai International Airport, covers roughly 18 miles in 7 minutes, and cost $1.6 billion to build.

In case you didn't pick up on it, the train goes fast.

As the Maglev picked up speed on Tuesday, it produced a sibilant moan. The passenger cars began to jostle a little more.

"Look -130," Harrison said, pointing to an electronic sign reading the train's speed in kilometers per hour.

The number flickered upward slowly, then fast, as the houses and factories and trees on either side started whipping by.

240. 305. 314. 400.

Passengers were pulled backward into their seats.

"Now it's going to hit it," Sue said of the train reaching maximum speed, and so it did. It zipped along at 430 kilometers - or about 267 miles - per hour.

There it stayed, lingering at a lightning pace for the next few minutes. There was a shocking bang when another train rocketed by, rousing shrieks from the passengers.

When it slowed, the passengers laughed.

"New highlight of the trip," Harrison declared.

Still, she noted what lay outside the window toward the end of the round trip: More dilapidated shacks, laundry hung to dry.

A stark contrast against the expensive new technology, she said.

In a way, it was a microcosm for the country.

"There are some places that are way behind (in China), and others that are technologically advanced beyond anywhere else," she said. "We've seen both extremes."